Description

Developed in the late 23rd century as a transwarp-capable cargo carrier, the Curry class was developed alongside the Excelsior class and meant to herald in a new era of interstellar travel. Essentially, the ship is a heavily modified version of the Excelsior as it was developed in parallel, much like the Galaxy and Nebula. The saucer section was gutted of all scientific and diplomatic facilties, most of the crew quarters and some of the weapons systems. The space freed was used to install a transwarp core and supporting systems with the nacelles fastened directly to the port and starboard underside of the saucer. The neck section was modified to include a seperation system to allow the fitting of various cargo carrier modules that were designed alongside it.

When the transwarp project failed, engineers decided it would be too costly to replace the warp coils of the nacelles, instead opting to use nacelles developed for the Constitution class vessels. This, combined with a older model of warp core meant that the top speed of the ship was never as fast as its Excelsior brethren. The first Curry class was commissioned in 2287 and since then they have become a common sight in the Federation, due to their reliability and space worthiness, a trait they do share with the Excelsior class.

Since the start of the Dominion War, the Curry class vessels have found a new purpose as they were adopted by Starfleet ground forces as troop and fighter carriers. In a strange twist, the Curry class suddenly found itself looking more like an Excelsior than ever before. Many of the retired Excelsior class vessels were recycled for the war effort and to increase fleet strength to counter the Borg threat, becoming Centaur class vessels and the engineering hulls being gutted and converted to troop/fighter/vehicle carriers. Due to the way the engineering hull connected, a second hangar bay was placed on the bow of the vessel, and many of the hulls weapons systems and internal systems have been replaced by cargo space, comfortable barracks, and vehicle and fighter storage facilities. When used with the Curry saucer, the ships can carry over 1,000 marines with ground assets and a large amount of transports and fighters and keep them supplied for several months. In times of emergency, they can be used to evacuate up to 6,000 personnel whilst still retaining room for their cargo. In peacetime, they have been adopted fully by the Ground Force Command for transports, and several have been assigned to Obsidian Fleet, allowing it to deploy ground troops and supporing armour wherever it is needed in a time of crisis.

The Currys are lightly armed, carrying the four torpedo launchers of the Excelsior hull and a small amount of torpedoes. Ball-turret phaser emitters make up the defensive systems on the saucer, although there are several blind spots on the underside. As such, they should be escorted by other capital ships and a heavy fighter escort whenever they are deployed.